The present invention relates to an amplifier system where a plurality of amplifiers connected to a network is controlled by an amplifier control apparatus.
Heretofore, there have been known professional-use audio systems which are employed in sound amplification apparatus (PA (Public Address System)) in concert halls, theaters, etc. in music production, etc. Such audio systems use many audio amplifiers that amplify sound signals and supply the amplified sound signals to many speakers provided at predetermined positions. In this connection, amplifier systems which are applied to networked audio systems and in which a plurality of amplifiers and amplifier control apparatus are connected to a network so that the plurality of amplifiers are controlled by the amplifier control apparatus.
In each of such amplifier systems, amplifier manager software is pre-installed in a personal computer, and the personal computer and the plurality of amplifiers are connected via the network. Through the amplifier manager software running on an operating system of the personal computer, states of the amplifiers can be monitored via the network, and behavior of the amplifiers can be remote-controlled via the network. Namely, the personal computer where the amplifier manager is running can be used as the amplifier control apparatus, and a main window of the amplifier manager is displayed on the display device of the amplifier control apparatus. The main window comprises a tree list of the amplifiers connected to the network and a plurality of pages capable of displaying the name and operation data of any of the equipment selected from the tree list.
Once an “Amp” page is selected from among the plurality of pages, the Amp page for controlling and monitoring the amplifiers is displayed. The Amp page comprises, for example, four pages on each of which are displayed channels of up to eight amplifiers. For each of the channels are displayed level data of the operation data via “elements”, such as an Output meter indicative of an output level of the channel, Temp meter indicative of a temperature of the channel and Input meter indicative of an input level of the channel. Also, for each of the channels, ON/OFF parameters of the operation data, such as an ATT fader for attenuating an input signal and Mute button for muting the channel, are displayed via elements in such a manner that any of these ON/OFF parameters can be changed as desired. Further, on a Group View page of the plurality of pages, desired channels of the plurality of pages connected to the network can be grouped, controlled and monitored. The Group View page comprises, for example, eight group pages, on each of which can be displayed up to sixteen channels. Operation data displayed for each of the channels are similar to those of the Amp page. One example of the conventionally-known amplifier systems is disclosed in a non-patent literature, “NetworkAmp Manager V1.1. OE Plus for Win XP/2000 Instruction Manual”, Yamaha Corporation.
With the conventionally-known amplifier control apparatus, the operation data of the amplifiers can be displayed and monitored on the pages of the main window, but types of the operation data that can be displayed on the Amp page and Group page are limited. Thus, when detailed operation data, including output electric power and alert threshold levels, are to be displayed, it has been conventional to open a Channel Detail page to display details of individual channels on the Channel Detail page. However, the conventional amplifier control apparatus present the problem that detailed operation data of the amplifiers can be monitored only channel by channel. Besides, the operation data are displayed on the Group View page per channel of the channel in question, so that the operation data of the entire group can not be monitored collectively. Further, the operation data identical in structure between amplifies of the same group, the operation data can be displayed on the Group View page; however, if the operation data are not identical in structure between amplifies of the same group, the operation data can be displayed on the Group View page in the control apparatus. Furthermore, the user may sometimes want to monitor the maximum value of some of level data, such as input and output levels, of the operation data, and the user may sometimes want to monitor the minimum value of other level data; however, so far, it has been impossible to monitor the maximum and minimum data values as desired.
Further, in such a case, it is conceivable to synthesize level data of the individual amplifiers of the group and display synthesized level data; however, if the group comprises a plurality of different types of amplifiers, the synthesized level data can not be displayed in the control apparatus because the level data differ in type, etc. depending on the types of the amplifiers.
Furthermore, in a case where operation data are to be grouped on the basis of destination speakers to which the data are to be supplied, they are grouped on a channel-by-channel basis, not on an amplifier-by-amplifier basis. In this case, there arises a need to monitor the operation data or level data of the group per channel of the amplifiers in order to check wire connections and deal with occurrence of any abnormality; however, so far, such monitoring has been impossible.
The assignee of the instant application proposed an amplifier control system in which a plurality of amplifiers and an amplifier control apparatus are connected to a network, and in which all of the amplifiers residing in the network are grouped, the grouped amplifiers are displayed in a tree format and state information are displayed in the amplifier control apparatus. In the proposed amplifier control apparatus, the grouped amplifiers are displayed in a tree format in a tree display section, and operating states of any one of the amplifies selected in the tree display section are displayed in a state information display section. Further, in the tree display section, a selected one of a plurality of groups is displayed in a tree format. Desired group to be displayed in a tree format can be selected via a tab. In the tree display, there can be displayed hierarchical groups expanded from the selected group and amplifiers belonging to the hierarchical groups.
The amplifier control apparatus selects a desired amplifier in the tree display section displayed on a control screen and thereby displays operating states of the selected amplifier in the state information display section. In this way, the selected amplifier can be monitored. But, in the case of a large-scale audio hall, where an enormous number of amplifiers, e.g. dozens or hundreds of amplifiers, are used, it is not a realistic approach to select and monitor the amplifiers one by one; thus, it is conceivable to provide a user interface that permits collective and individual displaying of a plurality of amplifiers, to thereby monitor all of the displayed amplifiers as if turning over pages.
However, monitoring all of the amplifiers by means of the aforementioned means tends to be cumbersome and time-consuming. Further, because all parameters of the individual amplifiers need not be constantly monitored and states of the amplifiers can be monitored to some degree if just general outlines of the parameters can be monitored, there has been a demand for an apparatus that can monitor general outlines of parameters of a plurality of amplifiers.